


Drive

by Ladycat



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-11
Updated: 2014-02-11
Packaged: 2018-01-12 00:37:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1179831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ladycat/pseuds/Ladycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He misses his parents. They'd drive, if he asked them to, giving him a break.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Drive

He's good at driving. He has to be, since the moment he got his license he became his sister's chauffeur.

His parents had always been so amazed that he didn't complain about that more. Connor remembers looking at them and comparing their happy surprise to the way Holtz -- never Father, no matter how habit tries to overwhelm him -- had always viewed his most august accomplishments with faint disapproval and scorn.

He compares that again to the dark eyes that haunt his nightmares.

He misses his parents. They'd drive, if he asked them to, giving him a break.

"I do not understand your willfullness."

Connor sighs, lips pressed tightly together. It's hard to see in the shapeless grey dawn. His eyes are starting to blur a little. "You're not driving, Illyria."

"You are frail, and grow weaker every passing moment." Her bearing is still regal, for all she's dirty, hair a tangled nest of blue and brown, her fathomless eyes somehow conveying pain the set of her shoulders does not. There's blood and other things drying on her skin, darkening her outfit. It smells awful. "Soon we must stop or risk collision."

They've been driving almost ten hours. Connor knows his stamina is good, better than most, but he doesn't like driving. It's too passive for his tastes.

He'd rather run on his own two feet, not trusting leather and machinery to shape his cowardice for him.

"I'll start looking for a hotel," he concedes, then sneaks a glance from the corner of his eye. Illyria. The only one left, and the one least able to take care of herself. Is this why Angel had refused him, forcing him to skulk at the edges?

Did Angel know he was there? Is that why he'd shoved Illyria's limp body back towards the dumpster Connor used as protection, darting out to help when he could, too numb with fear and shock to do it often? Angel hadn't taken his eyes from the creature who shamed the dragon books he remembered, superimposed by the bible Holtz had made him learn.

Angel hadn't said anything. Just pressed forward until the air was so thick with blood and viscera that Connor never saw dust.

He rubs his mouth. His lower lip is swollen where Illyria had hit him, struggling into consciousness, uncertain of her surroundings. She hadn't apologize.

"You are foolish. If you would cease this -- "

"No!" He doesn't raise his voice often. He's too tenor to be commanding when he's loud, his voice grainy and rough no matter how many times he tries to condition it smooth. It does the trick, though.

Illyria blinks, a mechanically precise motion, before turning to look at him fully. "You are foolish."

"I'm okay with that." Angel was foolish, giving himself for others. Holtz was foolish, consumed by his useless vengeance.

How can Connor invalidate their legacy, good and bad both, by being anything else?

"We'll stop for the night," he says aloud, watching as clouds reveal a Holiday Inn sign like a portent from heaven. "Or the day, I guess."

"And our destination?"

He's supposed to be in college. He's supposed to be kissing pretty girls and telling the rest of them lies. He's supposed to go out and get drunk and be thoroughly, illogically, gloriously human. That's Angel's gift to him.

But it's Holtz's determination, as twisted as it was, that he treasures most. Smiling across the cabin, Connor says, "Cleveland. My Father," not dad, dad is someone else, no less important but still available by phone to be confused and disapproving over, "said we'll find help there."

The car accelerates smoothly as it turns into the drive.


End file.
